News Review 11th October

This is the week that was…

A relatively quiet news week with no major breaking stories, a few news articles appeared following the release of further studies into Very Low Nicotine Content cigarettes (VLNC), which have been widely ridiculed as impractical, and a thorough waste of research money.

The Welsh Government(WG) released study data clearly demonstrating no Gateway effect in Wales, amusingly, their own data was ignored by a WG ‘spokesperson’ quoting an obscure USA study instead(with very limited numbers) as proof.

Finally of significance, a very interesting study from Dr Christopher Russell was published with a good analysis made by the ever excellent Sally Satel,highlighting how Vapers could help and encourage smokers in their transition, ie a formal ‘buddy’ system( one that haphazardly exists already).

The USA has continued on its path of local indoor or outside public space/park e-cigarette bans in a multitude of cities and states. Few positive or negative news reports regarding the landmark Public Health England announcement have appeared in the UK recently,although still appearing in many articles worldwide. I feel sure that opponents have not ceased in their attempts to discredit this report,‘Science by innuendo’ and ‘conflict of interest’ arguments will no doubt reappear in the near future, much to the detriment of existing smokers who are contemplating a switchover to e-cigarettes.